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Liberty Hall and Blue Wing: The Brown Family Legacy, Part II

Group approaches Blue Wing Landing Inn which was on a scenic boat tour on the Kentucky River sponsored by the Liberty Hall Historic Site in Frankfort. The tour linked the properties of Liberty Hall and Blue Wing that were originally owned by the John Brown family. Brown has often been referred to as one of the founding fathers of Kentucky(Photo: Courtesy of Nancy Stearns Theiss)

A few weeks ago, I took advantage of a special fall program offered by the Liberty Hall Historic Site in Frankfort. The program offered visitors the chance to participate in a guided tour of Liberty Hall – the original home of Senator John Brown (1757-1837) and his wife, Margaretta Mason Brown (1772-1838) – and then hop on a jet boat on the Kentucky River to visit the Blue Wing Landing Inn.

Blue Wing Landing was a plantation owned by the Brown family and has been turned into an Inn, operated by Doug and Kathleen Martin.

John Brown is a formidable figure in Kentucky history, a member of the Continental Congress, he was one of Kentucky’s first two U.S. senators. He was an aide to the Marquette de Lafayette under George Washington and studied law under Thomas Jefferson. His wife, Margaretta (from New York) and a friend, Elizabeth Love, have been credited for beginning the first Sunday School west of the Alleghenies, which was held in the garden, behind Liberty Hall.

Liberty Hall abuts the banks of the Kentucky River. Most prominent families that lived in cities, during this Antebellum era, also owned farmland or plantations, outside the town and the Brown family was no different. To reach Blue Wing Landing Inn, our tour group boarded Rockin Thunder, a jet boat service that operates out of Madison, Indiana and is owned by Janet Harding, Paul Nicholson and Will Martin. Paul was our captain for the trip and gave us a history of the river and the locks, two of which, we passed through in order to reach our destination.

According to Capt. Paul:

There are four locks between Frankfort and Carrollton built in 1838. The limestone blocks that comprise the walls were hand cut by German stonemasons. They were cut from cliffs and floated down the river on rafts. The dams by the locks were built in the summer when the water was low. Cribs, 12 foot squared were made and filled with crushed rock and then connected to each other until they stretched across the river. On Feb. 14, 1840, the first boat to go through the locks, was called the St. Valentine’s Day Surprise because they didn’t know if the locks would work. Hemp, tobacco and whiskey were some of the major exports from the area that could now been sent to the Ohio River and there was even a there a shipyard for boat construction, in Frankfort, for a while.

The Army Corps controlled the locks until the 1990s when commerce ceased on the river. The state took control of the locks, which have been closed until just recently. The four locks from Carrolton to Frankfort recently were restored which allowed our company to begin the boat tours to Frankfort.

It took about 1-and-1/2-hours by jet boat to reach Blue Wing Landing Inn but 170 years ago, it must have been a full day’s venture from Frankfort to reach the plantation. And the Kentucky River, in those years, would have often been inoperable because of the varying river conditions. The steep cliffs and varying widths of the river, flood quickly during winter and spring and become extremely shallow during the summer and fall.

Our group reached the Blue Wing Landing and walked up a path and approached the beautifully restored Blue Wing Inn. To the north, there was a small cabin and to the south, a lake was nestled below the Inn, above the river bank. We met Kathleen and Doug Martin, the property owners, and Kathleen gave us the following history:

John Brown purchased approximately 3,000 acres, which included a large peninsula surrounded by the Kentucky River. This Brown Bottom peninsula in Owen, County, across from Lockport, in Henry County, once encompassed the little river town of Gratz. Gratz, at that time, was a huge river town which included two colleges, a pharmacy and an inn along with other businesses.

He started acquiring the property in the late 1700s. Mason and Orlando Brown, John’s sons, both built houses in this area. Mason’s home is the one we restored and use as the Blue Wing Landing Inn.

The cook cabin (behind the house) has the large limestone fireplace for cooking. The cooking cabins were usually located separately from the main building to avoid house fires. The Brown family were slave owners and there are still three standing slave cabins on the property. There were large acres of corn and hemp planted on the bottom part of the property. At one time there were 26 structures on the whole peninsula. We have found cisterns and ice houses and sections of stone walls along property boundary lines.

Traveling along the river and connecting the Brown family life to places gave relevance to how the world operated in the past. As we create a new journey and path in a world that has yet to exist, these places in history give us context to help organize, prepare and reflect. Liberty Hall plans to continue to offer these experiences for its visitors and is currently planning trips for its 2018 programs.